Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
An image forming apparatus conveys a paper sheet along a conveyance path using a rotating roller, forms an image on the conveyed paper sheet, and outputs the paper sheet. When a paper sheet gets stuck in the conveyance path (that is, when a jam occurs), the user needs to remove the paper sheet, which has got stuck in the conveyance path, so as to release the jam. When the jammed paper sheet is pulled out from the roller to remove the jammed paper sheet from the conveyance path, the roller rotates and this rotation drives the motor to rotate so as to cause an electromotive force (hereinafter referred to as the electromotive force during the jam process).
The electromotive force during the jam process might cause a malfunction of the circuit of the image forming apparatus. An increase in force for pulling out the jammed paper sheet from the roller increases the rotation speed of the motor, thus increasing the electromotive force during the jam process. This might break the circuit of the image forming apparatus.
Therefore, a proposed technology rotates a motor using an electromotive force during the jam process when it is generated, so as to consume the electromotive force during the jam process.
Another proposed technology interlocks the opening-closing operation of the cover of an image forming apparatus and the operation of an interlock switch. In this technology, when the cover is closed, the motor is connected to a motor power supply (24V power supply) by the interlock switch. When the cover is opened, the motor is connected to another power supply (5V power supply) by the interlock switch. When an electromotive force during the jam process occurs in the state where the cover is opened, the current caused by this electromotive force flows to the other power supply.